Couple of questions and I'm after some info for a upcoming road trip with wife in DecemberVehicle is a 94 GQ safari, carrying ground anchor, winch, tackle blocks & hi lift oh and epirb.Not looking to for bogs, just prepared for one or major breakage out in the wops.

Starting down on west coast thru to bannockburn, nevis valley hit gore then turn around and back up east coast to hamner springs, finishing up with rainbow station. Intersted is some info on Hopkins valley,Whats public access like and if so what side is the more scenic drive?What condition is the Godley river track in?Is Black forest station worth the drive?Couple of other places I'll be transiting is Nevis road, Mace Town, Snow Farm, Skippers Canyon Rainbow station.

The track is getting pretty cut up and muddy through paddock section with some small bogs developing .

Rivers are up at the moment to with spring melt .

Up the other side of the valley is the Dobson you should ring the station to ask permission to access the valley . They are generally not that keen on vechiles coming through during the spring lambing and went the track is wet .

I prefer the Dobson as it is much less frequented by young hoons and hunters .

Colinl wrote:Picking Hopkins being public access is a blessing and a curse.

Agreed... I headed through there on a day trip in January this year as couldn't get permission for the Dobson as it'd been a wet week beforehand. Went through in my Suzuki Escudo on 29" roadies no worries... was not a hard track (although we didn't go too far up the valley), however in the wet would be a different story. Seems like a fair few trucks on big tyres have chewed out a lot of the tracks and you end up straddling the ruts in a few places however I'd have struggled to stay on the high points if it had been too wet on the road tyres... however there are only a few trickier sections and most had a bypass or you could squeeze around the edge but I definitely dragged my diffs a couple times trying the least chewed out 'harder lines.' For the most part it was a fairly simple gravel road... my mate is planning to take his Subaru Outback next time (unless it's chewed up a lot worse). Definitely an awesome track tho

Photos!!!!

What the road is like for the most part

This was a little sidetrack with a very slick bottom

However the bogs on the main track felt like they had a firm base (if the 29"s could reach!!!!)

Hope this helps. This info only as new as Jan this year and didn't go very far up the valley... but should be better than nothing, even if it just for photos! Definitely a very scenic drive and easy in the dryCheers

Intersted is some info on Hopkins valley,Whats public access like and if so what side is the more scenic drive?What condition is the Godley river track in?Is Black forest station worth the drive?

In my opinion:Hopkins side is better than Dobson, ( beside the public access access)as you drive up the valley untill Monument Hut the river is on your right side,the track is ok ish, some places a bit chued up, and may have to drop in the river bed to get around it. From Monument hut the track is in the river bed, untill Red Hut,Last year it was clearly marked with road cones which made it a bit less challengig (boring).Red Hut is on the other side. From there is a relatively good track untill about Elco Hut,(that is back on opposite side,but it can be difficult to get to it) from there the "track" gets more interesting, but can "drive" up to Dodger Hut. (The Shotover 4WD club done a detailed trip report)

Other places in the area may be of interest:Clay Cliffs,Ahuriri river,to the Spade line ( not much of 4wd trip just scenic)

The Godley is more boulder hopping then the Macaulay valley,and the latter has a beatiful private hut (run by the Alpine club) at the end of it, and both scenic enough!

Black Forest station will cost $20 from memory. It is a pylon track, hardly 4wd, but you get an awesome view of the lakes from a different point, I prefer to drive it from Twizel end.

Is Old Man Range road a traverse to piano flat ok with a solo? looks like a pretty long drive & a bit of a bad track record...

Waikaia bush road ( from Roxburgh end) is ok until Potters Cottage but if in the wet it will get very interesting really fast beyond it,

If you in the area Mitchell s Cottage and a drive up to the Obelisk is worth a visit